Middle school key to college, career pipeline

Most of the graduates of the Reseda High School Police Academy Magnet program got their start at a junior police academy at William Mulholland Middle School in Los Angeles. The middle school program introduces students to careers in law enforcement.

By the time he’d graduated middle school, Kalin Pont-Tate already had two apprenticeships on his résumé – one at Internet search engine Ask.com and a second at Oakland-based Rockbot, creator of a social media jukebox music app.

The 14-year-old Oakland student was mentored by company CEOs and learned how to build a website, but he also emerged from the experiences with something less tangible, but more important: He learned the value of school.

“Before (the apprenticeships), I didn’t realize that all the classes I had were that important or beneficial to anything I wanted to do,” Kalin said. “What does math have to do with anything? But I realized I had to put my best foot forward to do what I want to do.”

As California focuses on education reforms intended to ensure that students graduate from high school with the skills to succeed in college and careers, Kalin is a case study in closing what some educators say is a crucial gap in the pipeline – middle school matters, and it matters a lot.

“Career awareness has only been given lip service in middle schools, from my point of view,” said John White, a retired middle school principal who is now an education consultant and sits on the board of the California League of Middle Schools. “Kids (in middle school) are at their most advantageous mental state of acquiring languages, acquiring skills, doing things. We’re trying to make them all Einsteins so they can go to college, but we don’t offer enough career stuff … nothing that students can really go out and do.”

Crucial engagement

While much of the college and career efforts in California focus on high school students, sixth through eighth grade is a crucial time for students, research shows. Grades, attendance patterns and engagement at the middle school level are among the strongest predictors of Middle school key to college, career pipeline | EdSource:

A reader sent me a note about this anti-evolution cartoon, which was shown to a freshman biology class at Atlanta's Grady High School as part of a PowerPoint presentation.

"I just can't believe that this didn't hit the media in a bigger way. I'm pretty horrified by the idea that my children heading off to Grady might experience this. I think it needs to be addressed by the larger community," wrote the reader.

The Grady High student newspaper, the Southerner, did an excellent job reporting on the cartoon and the fallout.Grady High student journalists Josh Weinstock and Archie Kinnane invested a lot of time into their careful reporting. I'm disappointed Atlanta Public Schools did not respond when approached by the Southerner reporters in May. Someone from the district should have explained to the Southerner and the greater Grady High community why this cartoon was in an APS file-sharing database for teachers.

I reached out to APS Wednesday, recognizing, that while this occurred before the watch of brand new APS superintendent Meria Carstarphen, parents and students were still hoping for a response.

What You Need To Know About Charter Schools

Parents, pundits and politicians, did you get what you expected? If you thought you would get the biggest bang for the buck by pouring taxpayer dollars into charter schools and devoting yourself to public school disinvestment might it be time for a reassessment? After years of being embroiled in myriad contentions – education management organizations versus a public community school education. Do teachers need experience and credentials or are barely trained individuals sufficient? And what of their commitment? Today we see that the diversion plan is not all it was promised to be and we have to ask ourselves a question. Did we blindly trust? Were we helpless in the face of power? Did the “big guns” such as the Gates and Walton Foundations have us over a barrel? Given time and greater perspective, let us look at the assertions and possibly, reject them.

What You Need To Know About Charter Schools

Every year, hundreds of new charter schools open in the U.S. – largely in low-income, urban neighborhoods. This fall, Sejong Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota, will be one of them. The Korean-immersion school for kids in kindergarten through sixth grade will be located just a few miles from the nation’s very first charter school, which opened in St. Paul in 1992.

A big idea behind charters, which now educate roughly 2.5 million kids in the U.S., is to try out concepts that traditional public schools typically wouldn’t, like focusing on the outdoors, Korean language immersion – or even yoga.

Sejong Academy’s founders hope their curriculum will appeal to a big population of Korean adoptees in the Twin Cities. Plus, they think non-Koreans might like learning another language. Board chair Grace Lee, herself Korean-American, thinks Sejong will offer richer cultural lessons than your typical public school might.

“I think of course a lot of schools will say, ‘Oh, we promote global diversity.’ But how are they demonstrating that? Are they just having some ethnic food at an open house, or something like that?” she says.

The real battle between charter schools and their traditional counterparts is far more pitched. One of the contentious aspects is that the roughly 6,500 charter schools in the country are public schools, and they get taxpayer dollars. But they’re run independently, meaning that in many states they are not subject to the same rules and regulations as are traditional public schools. Each school is overseen by a so-called sympathetically

A Unified Victory for

Philadelphia’s Schools

Parents United for Public Education praises the work of public education advocates, parents, teachers, students, members of the Philadelphia delegation, Mayor Michael Nutter, and countless Philadelphians who called, wrote letters, made legislative visits, and even sat in at the state capitol to win the passage of HB 1177. This was a unified victory for Philadelphia schools.

While we acknowledge this work, we have serious concerns about amendments which may have been inserted into HB 1177, the language of which has never been reviewed by the public. Despite the passage of HB 1177, Pennsylvania’s children were still shortchanged in the FY 15 budget. The state failed to enact a fair funding formula, and school districts across the state will be forced to raise taxes to make up for Pennsylvania’s refusal to fund schools responsibly. Philadelphia is no exception. Even with the funds raised by the cigarette tax, the School District of Philadelphia is still $45 million short of last year’s inadequate status quo. This is unacceptable.

We call upon the Mayor and City Council to formally reconvene this summer to address this gap and to restore essential staff, primarily guidance counselors, nurses, and teachers. We will not endure another year like last year. The City must seriously explore a revenue shift to the schools as well as call upon the Philadelphia Parking Authority to devote revenues from the pending sale of taxi cab licenses to the schools. While high praise is due to the hard work of a host of advocates for Philadelphia schools, our work is not yet done.

Empowered Educators Raise Their Hands for Student Success

More than 1,000 innovative, empowered educators put their heads and hearts together during NEA’s “Raise Your Hand: Empowered Educators Day” on Wednesday, sharing the awesome and inspiring ways they use their power to make a difference for every child in the nation.

“Every one of you is a leader. Every one of you is using your power and expertise for students,” said Bill Raabe, director of NEA Center for Great Public Schools, to the crowded theater in Denver’s Colorado Convention Center. “This day is about helping you to do that work.”

Co-sponsored by the GE Foundation and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and co-hosted by professor and MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry, the events of Empowered Educators Day typify the work that NEA and its members have undertaken to lead their profession and focus on the success of students. (You can join these efforts by taking part in the NEA Great Public Schools Network atgpsnetwork.org, a gathering place for teachers, parents, and education support professionals to share ideas and resources.)

“Proceed until apprehended!” exhorted NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. While he has said those three words hundreds of times before, they seemed especially applicable in a room packed with educators working on issues of teacher leadership, community collaboration, and student success. Now is the time, Van Roekel said, for educators to make sure that public schools remain an “essential element of our future,” and that “we can’t deprofessionalize the people who deliver it.”

The day began with a panel dedicated to the development of leadership. “Always ask yourself, ‘Is this good for students?’” advised Iowa State Education Association President Tammy Wawro. (The panel discussion is archived online:http://www.gpsnetwork.org/welcome/ra2014/2014-nea-ra-live-stream-video-archive/) And it continued through numerous showcases of the outstanding work being done by NEA members, their local and state unions, and their allies.

To Close the Achievement Gap, We Need to Close the Teaching Gap

For years now, educators have looked to international tests as a yardstick to measure how well U.S. students are learning 21st-century skills compared to their peers. The answer has been: not so well. The U.S. has been falling further behind other nations and has struggled with a large achievement gap.

Federal policy under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the Department of Education's 'flexibility' waivers has sought to address this problem by beefing up testing policies -- requiring more tests and upping the consequences for poor results: including denying diplomas to students, firing teachers, and closing schools. Unfortunately, this strategy hasn't worked. In fact, U.S. performance on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) declined in every subject area between 2000 and 2012 -- the years in which these policies have been in effect.

Now we have international evidence about something that has a greater effect on learning than testing: Teaching. The results of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), released last week by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), offer a stunning picture of the challenges experienced by American teachers, while providing provocative insights into what we might do to foster better teaching -- and learning -- in the United States.

In short, the survey shows that American teachers today work harder under much more challenging conditions than teachers elsewhere in the industrialized world. They also receive less useful feedback, less helpful professional development, and have less time to collaborate to improve their work. Not surprisingly, two-thirds feel their profession is not valued by society -- an indicator that OECD finds is ultimately related to student achievement.

Charter School Alternative Form 2013-14

Download the 2013-14 Charter School Unaudited Actuals Financial Report Alternative Form as well as instructions on how to complete the form.

Reporting Unaudited Actuals

For the period July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014, the submission of charter school financial data to the California Department of Education (CDE) is required by Education Code Section 1628 and by Education Code Section 42100 (as amended by Assembly Bill 1994). Charter schools must submit the completed forms to their authorizing agencies by September 15, 2014. The authorizing agencies will submit the forms to their county offices of education, who will submit the forms to the CDE by October 15, 2014.

Charter schools that do not report in the Standardized Account Code Structure (SACS) format must use this Alternative Form. This version contains the components necessary to prepare the 2013–14 unaudited actuals.

Alternative Form User Guide (DOC) Please refer to the "General Information" and the "Accounting Guidance" sections of the user guide for more detailed instructions on how to use and submit the Alternative Form.

For assistance with the Alternative Form, charter schools should call their authorizing agency or county office of education. County offices may call the California Department of Education, School Fiscal Services Division, Office of Financial Accountability and Information Services, 916-322-1770, or e-mail sacsinfo@cde.ca.gov.

White, BESE “Special Counsel” Subject toAttorney General Approval

July 2, 2014

If I learned anything from the July 01, 2014 BESE meeting, it is that Louisiana State Superintendent John White has latched onto the word clarity. Not that he offers any. Just that he spewed the word numerous times in the meeting.

What is “clear” is that White is situating a lawsuit against Governor Bobby Jindal. To do that, he will need to retain special counsel.

On July 02, 2014, the Times-Picayune published an article stating that White might need to get Jindal’s approval to “hire” special counsel.

In this post, I would like to offer a little–ahem–clarity on the Times-Picayune article.

If White, Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) President Chas Roemer, and their BESE-majority entourage want to “retain special counsel” as per BESE member James Garvey’s motion at the July 01, 2014, BESE meeting, based upon the Louisiana Code RS 42:263, the attorney general will need to approve such action even if the retained counsel offers to do so pro bono:

§263. Resolution requesting special counsel

A. No parish governing authority, levee board except as provided in Subsection B hereof, parish school board, city school board, or other local or state board shall retain or employ any special attorney or counsel to represent it in any special matter or pay any compensation for any legal services whatever unless a real necessity exists, made to appear by a resolution thereof stating fully the reasons for the action and the compensation to be paid. The resolution then shall be subject to the approval of the attorney general and, if approved by him, shall be spread upon the minutes of the body and published in the official journal of the parish.

In this op ed for tomorrow's New York Times the columnist decides to build upon the President's recent self references, which he notes in case the readers missed them: During a walk a few weeks ago from the White House to the Interior Department, the president proclaimed, “The bear is loose.” At a Minneapolis town hall last week, Obama said: “With Secret Service, I always tease them, I’m like a ca

by rss@dailykos.com ... / 1h

even as I acknowledge that it comes from a place of sadness

the sadness is because of the promise of a dream that has never been fully achieved

Coy Barefoot runs a radio program in Charlottesville, on which I have been a periodic guest: I got to know Coy when he was on staff at the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia and I was in the 2008 cohort of their flagship program, the political leaders program.

On August 28 of last year I was his guest because 50 years earlier I had attended the March on Washington.

This link will take you to the just under 13 minutes of that radio appearance. Why I am proud of it is my ability to put things into a larger context than most people applied either to the March then, King's speech, or what it means for us today.

reposting another older piece I believe is very relevant, especially in light of the Hobby Lobby decision. This is from February 2012 can be seen clearly in a piece at Alternet by trained futurist and good friend Sara Robinson. It is titled Why Patriarchal Men Are Utterly Petrified of Birth Control -- And Why We'll Still Be Fighting About it 100 Years From Now, and it's subtitle makes the thrust

originally posted in April 2010, but I think still very relevant, particularly at a time when some are out trying to dismantle the government a teacher a fireman a policeman/state trooper an ambulance driver a soldier/sailor/airman/Marine/Coastguardsman an air traffic controller a public librarian a curator at the Smithsonian I have your check from Social Security Medicare Medicaid the Veterans Ad

James Baldwin said it best:

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."

Geaux Teacher!: For Louisiana Board of Education Failure Was the Only Option!: For Louisiana Board of Education Failure Was the Only Option!Retired teacher Mike Deshotels offers a pretty darn good synopsis of the June 1 BESE meeting. If you missed it or want to spend a few hours witnessing an incredibly juvenile and idiotic display, you can watch the archived video when and if LDE makes it availa

NEA president: Current testing system “will crumble” | Chalkbeat: NEA president: Current testing system “will crumble”Nation's largest teachers union meeting in Denver Two National Education Association leaders Wednesday called for a massive reduction in the amount of student testing and predicted accountability systems based on such assessments “will crumble.”Dennis Van Roekel, president of the 3

Corporate Free Speech and Teacher Gag Orders | Reclaim Reform: Corporate Free Speech and Teacher Gag OrdersPosted on July 2, 2014by Ken PrevitiThe Supreme Court Five has refused freedom of speech for teachers and approved freedom of speech protections for corporations (the legal fiction of corporate personhood). Even freedom of religious rights has been granted to corporations who are allowed to r

Badass Teachers Association: On the Intolerable Conditions of Many NYC Public School Buildings- A Teacher CommentsI had gotten into the habit of wearing polyester, or heavy, cotton blouses by mid May, fabric that should spare me the embarrassment of unsightly sweat stains left by pools of perspiration being seen by my students. It was ninety two degrees and my classroom, was not an oasis of learni

Children with mental illnesses struggle to find help as schools, hospital systems are decentralized | The Lens: Children with mental illnesses struggle to find help as schools, hospital systems are decentralizedNew Orleans has become a case study in how children and families are affected by decentralization of public education and mental health systems. The problem is particularly urgent because m

Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » College Ready vs. Out-of-Basement Ready: Shifting the Education Paradigm: College Ready vs. Out-of-Basement Ready: Shifting the Education Paradigm2 JULY 2014 256 NO COMMENTLast year when my son graduated from college, I asked the question “can you stay out of my basement?” as I believe an important outcome of education is the ability to live o

District Chief Poll is Not “Nationally Representative Sample” | Truth in American Education: District Chief Poll is Not “Nationally Representative Sample”Filed in Common Core State Standards by Shane Vander Hart on July 2, 2014 • 0 CommentsThe Gallup/Education Week poll released yesterday that surveyed district superintendents’ thoughts on the Common Core State Standards I’m sure will be used by C

The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGWhat Questions Do You Have About the Common Core State Standards?July 2, 2014 by Klea ScharbergAlthough most states plan to fully implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) during the 2014–15 school year, many questions remain about what the standards are, how they were created, and how they will influence students' and teache

Gates' Excuse for Poor Results of Educational Technology: "Unmotivated Students" - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: Gates' Excuse for Poor Results of Educational Technology: "Unmotivated Students"By Anthony Cody on July 2, 2014 12:18 PMI have written a great deal about the Gates Foundation's role in education reform over the past several years. They have been a focu

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Top 6 shockers: how Weingarten and Deasy agree on tenureCourtesy: Aspen Ideas Festival The stage was set with the two public education luminaries, ready to square off on such lightning rod issues as tenure and teacher dismissal laws in the wake of last month’s Vergara trial: Randi Weingarten, leader of th

On “Access to Teacher Quality” as the New Equity Concern | School Finance 101: School Finance 101Data and thoughts on public and private school funding in the U.S.On “Access to Teacher Quality” as the New Equity ConcernPosted on July 2, 20140 Rate ThisA short while back, the Center for American Progress posted their take-away from the Vergara decision. That takeaway was that equity of teacher

Charter schools could refuse to admit gay, transgender kids | News Feature | Indy Week: Charter schools could refuse to admit gay, transgender kids By Michael PapichFile photo by D.L. AndersonRep. Paul Stam is anti-gay. Was he born that way?emailprintshareadd to favoritesadd to custom listcommentsWrite to the editorAbill that would permit charter schools to discriminate against students based on s

In Public Schools, White Students Are No Longer the Majority - Janell Ross and Peter Bell - The Atlantic: In Public Schools, White Students Are No Longer the MajorityU.S. classrooms will enter a new era this fall—one in which black, Hispanic, and Asian students form the majority.Molly Riley/ReutersThe 2013-14 school year has drawn to a close in most U.S. school districts, and with it the final per

Henry A. Giroux | Protesting Youth in the Age of Neoliberal Cruelty - Online University of the Left: Henry A. Giroux | Protesting Youth in the Age of Neoliberal CrueltyStudents in Milan took to the streets to protest against Italian austerity, October, 4 2013. (Photo via Shutterstock)Reality always has this power to surprise. It surprises you with an answer that it gives to questions never asked –

Jersey Jazzman: In Newark, As Everywhere, Experience MattersSo Cami Anderson will be the State Superintendent of Newark's school district for at least another year. As John Mooney at NJ Spotlight notes, the announcement came at 5:23 on Friday evening: the time when all politicians dump unpopular news on their constituents.And even Chris Christie has to acknowledge that, at this point, Anderson is

Geaux Teacher!: John White's Credibility Plunges Into Negative Territory: John White's Credibility Plunges Into Negative TerritoryJust in case there is anybody interested in the public education takeover debacle who has not discovered Dr. Mercedes Schneider's blog or read her new book, here is her latest (I'm sure she is writing another as I post) blog.Roemer, White, and BESE Majority Positioning

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm still trying to put positive spin on Chicago rising gun violence: Rahm still trying to put positive spin on Chicago rising gun violenceRahm's PR team is trying to spin the slight reduction in Chicago murders as a plus for his policing policies even as our city's violence continues to outpace even New York and L.A..Leaving Chief McCarthy's propensity for fudging

NYC Educator: My Final Adventure at the Prestigious Private School: My Final Adventure at the Prestigious Private School By special guest blogger Nouveaux PauvresOne afternoon the very troubled boy who had butlers and drivers and also had the disturbing habit of throwing himself on the floor I guess got bored with the pizza and the movies. So he took a plastic bag, put it over his head, and then s

BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK AM POSTSLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 7-2-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for allDiane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Microsoft Cashes in on Common Core and Online TestingAre you ready for the new standards? Check out how Microsoft can help your school.5 by dianeravitch / 32min hide // saveMichigan: A One-Woma

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Microsoft Cashes in on Common Core and Online TestingAre you ready for the new standards? Check out how Microsoft can help your school.5 by dianeravitch / 32min hide // saveMichigan: A One-Woman Truth Squad for Charter AccountabilityThis article tells the story of Mary T. Wood, a woman in Michigan who has devoted nine years to tr

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: The view from the IEA Retired section in the back of the hall at the first Illinois caucus session yesterday.NEA RA. NBI A. Toxic testing.New Business A will be presented to the RA Thursday. NEW BUSINESS ITEM A NEA CAMPAIGN AGAINST TOXIC TESTING NEA will conduct a comprehensive campaign to end the h

Wait What?: Wait What? CT Post Editorial: A long-overdue step on chartersThe Connecticut Post has published a powerful editorial about the Jumoke/FUSE charter school debacle and the Malloy Administration’s failure to properly oversee the growing charter school industry in Connecticut. Governor Dannel “Dan” Malloy, his Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor, and Pryor’s minions of charter school a

Answer Sheet: What you know about July 4th is wrongYou learned in school about what happened in July 1776, and think you have a good handle on events surrounding American independence from Great Britain. Right? Well, if you think that was the day that America’s independence was declared by the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, you are wrong. And if you think that that […]by Valerie Str

Schools Matter: Join Me at the Rise Above The Mark Kokomo Show, July 17thBy Doug MartinI will be in Kokomo on the Rise Above the Mark after-movie panel on July 17 at the South Branch of the Kokomo library. I will be signing copies of Hoosier School Heist from 4:30 to 5:30pm. Here is the press release. Please share this far and wide and follow me on twitter: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, July 1, 2014 R

@ THE CHALK FACE: Fred Klonsky is correct about the #NEARA14Says the retired teacher on his website: Yesterday NEA Board of Director from Illinois, Jim Grimes, told us that the leadership would present two New Business Items (NBIs) to the delegates. One addresses the issue of the use and misuse of standardized testing. The other one will call on local and state affiliates […]by Shaun Johnson /

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): Schneider’s Ten Reform Claims: A ReaderJack Schneider’s Ten Reform Claims That Teachers Should Know How to Challenge provides a powerful framework for educators to mobilize our much needed roles as teachers for the wider public. I want here to use his ten claims as a bas

CURMUDGUCATION: PARCC Is in TroubleThis story has been emerging in bits and pieces and being reported on as parts of other stories, but it deserves to be mentioned many places, because it has the potential to wreak some serious havoc in this coming school year.Last year, Pearson won the contract to develop the PARCC test. This may have been because Pearson was the only bidder, and that may have be

Perdido Street School: Michael Rebell On The Irony Of Campbell BrownFrom State of Politics:Michael Rebell, a veteran education advocate, expressed doubt during an interview on CapTon last night that an effort to duplicate the results of a California lawsuit that overturned teacher tenure laws in that state will be equally successful here in New York.... Rebell was co-counsel for the plaintiffs in

Why schools’ efforts to block the Internet are so laughably lame | Hechinger Report: Why schools’ efforts to block the Internet are so laughably lameBy Annie Murphy PaulThis story also appeared at:As schools around the country have rolled out one-to-one computer initiatives, handing out tablets and laptops to their students, a sour note has often intruded on the triumphant fanfare heralding these

Stiglitz: Inequality Is Not Inevitable | janresseger: Stiglitz: Inequality Is Not InevitablePosted on July 2, 2014 by janressegerThe NY Times just ended an eighteen month series of commentaries on its opinion pages about economic inequality, The Great Divide, moderated by the Nobel prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz. I urge you to read the final column in this series, in which Stiglitz dec

Louisiana Educator: BESE Fails: BESE FailsI and many other educators and parents attended the BESE meeting Tuesday to watch BESE members and Superintendent White attempt to deal with the combination of curve balls and spit balls thrown at them by Governor Jindal. Instead of a ball game, it turned out to be a circus that lasted 6 hours and it was not entertaining. If our public education classrooms

Russ on Reading: SCOTUS Sticks It to the Union: SCOTUS Sticks It to the UnionWe must all hang together, or assuredly we will all hang separately - Ben FranklinThe Supreme Court Ruling Monday inHarris v. Quinn played second fiddle to the ruling in the Hobby Lobby case in the media. While the Hobby Lobby contraceptive case was front page news in the New York Times, Harris v. Quinn didn't get a menti

Complexities of Measuring Effectiveness | Connected Principals: Complexities of Measuring Effectivenessby John Marschhausen • July 2, 2014 • 0 Comments“What are the real 3rd grade guarantee numbers?”“Why do the Ohio Department of Education and the district report different percentages? Are you trying to hide something?”These are all quotes that have been directed in my direction –either in person

by mike simpson / 8h

YESTERDAY

Roemer, White, and BESE Majority Positioning to Sue Jindal | deutsch29: Roemer, White, and BESE Majority Positioning to Sue JindalJuly 1, 2014On July 01, 2014, I attended the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) Special Board Meeting initiated by three members: Lottie Beebe, Carolyn Hill, and Jane Smith.These three members wanted a primary focus of the meeting to incl

Plan B: One-Step for Addressing PARCC and Common Core | Crazy Crawfish's Blog: Crazy Crawfish's BlogZesty Louisiana Education PoliticsPlan B: One-Step for Addressing PARCC and Common CorePosted on July 1, 20140Today was an interesting day at the Claiborne building in downtown Baton Rouge. Today was the much anticipated climax of significant back and forth politicking between Governor Jindal and hi

empathyeducates – Black and Hispanic Kindergartners Are Disproportionately in High-Poverty Schools: Black and Hispanic Kindergartners Are Disproportionately in High-Poverty SchoolsBy Elaine Weiss and Emma García | Originally Published at Economic Policy Institute. June 25, 2014Growing up black or Hispanic in the United States today means high odds of living in concentrated poverty: in neighborhood

An Activist Handbook for the Education Revolution: United Opt Out’s Test of Courage - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform: An Activist Handbook for the Education Revolution: United Opt Out’s Test of CourageBY PEGWPEN · JULY 1, 2014In the summer of 2013, United Opt Out spent all of June writing 50 state opt out/refusal guides to arm everyone with an essential tool, specif

Do Teachers' Unions Have Any Friends in the Obama Administration? | Diane Ravitch: Do Teachers' Unions Have Any Friends in the Obama Administration?Posted: 07/01/2014 6:33 pm EDT Updated: 2 hours agoPrint ArticleShare30Tweet40Email10Comment7We are living in an era when the very idea of public education is under attack, as are teachers' unions and the teaching profession. Let's be clear: these atta

Is It Time to Escort Bill Gates Out of Our Schools? | John Thompson: Is It Time to Escort Bill Gates Out of Our Schools?American constitutional democracy seeks a balance between the empowerment of individuals and the checks and balances necessary to protect the rights of the community. Bill Gates, like so many other billionaires, does not seem to respect the wisdom of poet Robert Frost. "Good

James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAPFundraising advantages didn’t buy victory in SBE primaries | ChalkbeatFundraising advantages didn’t buy victory in SBE primaries | Chalkbeat: Fundraising advantages didn’t buy victory in SBE primaries Both candidates who won the contested State B